Aw shucks! They now do Chaiya chaiya in NY

Thomas Friedman, the American writer who believes globalisation turned the world flat, has a teenage daughter who learns Bollywood dancing in New York.

That revelation was among the many personal insights the New York Times columnist offered as he addressed a 250-strong audience at the Taj on Monday.

He said local ideas could go global faster, thanks to a world where opportunities had been levelled out by recent world trends, including the spread of broadband Internet.

Called 'Imagining India in a Hot, Flat, Crowded World,' the event was a jugalbandi of sorts between Friedman and Nandan Nilekani, Infosys chairman and author of a just-released book on India.

Barkha Dutt of NDTV moderated the discussion, which had high moments of humour and inspired repartee.

"They failed because of real estate," said Nilekani, when asked if Satyam was a failed model of the new IT world, sending the audience into peals of laughter.

He said scams such as Satyam were events, and not trends. Overall, he said, he was optimistic for India, which would, in 30 years, have the world's largest population of young people, and an opportunity to swing things in the country's favour. "And in any case, India does not have a monopoly on scams," he remarked.

Friedman argued the case for a green world, and what nations such as the US and India had to do to combat global warming. He said people accused him of being optimistic because he was short. "You can only see the glass half full," he was told by a distinguished general he was once interviewing.

Together, the two authors had the audience engrossed in a debate about the future of their two countries. They autographed copies of their books after the event.